Comcast doesn’t provide fiber internet. It’s still coax.
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Comcast spinning NBCUniversal
- Thread starter michael hagerty
- Start date
Ya and the last mile is delivered by coax. At least around here. Prices for direct fiber are much cheaper for better speeds.
Depends on how you look at it. One million subscribers in 2018, five million in 2022 (four years in), seven million in 2024 (seven years in), 9.3 million at the end of 2025 (eight years in).
That's pretty far behind the Big 3---Verizon (146 million), T-Mobile (140 million) and AT&T (119 million), but it's absolutely growth.
It's hard to find news reports that aren't behind paywalls, but the Google preview for the Wall Street Journal story from January 29 of this year says Xfinity Mobile revenue increased to $1.4 billion in 2025---an 18% increase over 2024.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
All of the major cable companies are more focused on broadband internet, home phone as VoIP, and wireless mobile. Video service is rarely part of the most-hyped bundles.
I just checked the Spectrum website and you have to specifically select "TV" as what you want bundled before it is included in your offers. But every bundle is at least internet/mobile.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Depends on the company and the neighborhood, I think. You are citing what appears to be Comcast's policy, and that's fine. Charter/Spectrum runs fiber to the junction box for my building and then coax from there to each individual apartment, but we are in a part of their service area which has relatively high residential density, so that may be the difference.
It's nearly impossible to do a direct comparison between the two unless someone can find a Comcast-served area with high residential density in a city where they are running fiber on their trunk lines.
This is not correct, anymore. My previous house was built in 2019, and had fiber from Comcast up to the side of the house, though it was converted to coax with the use of an RFoG ONU.
In new build areas, Comcast is now doing fiber to the home using EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network) technology with speeds up to 2gbps symmetric... TV is delivered over IP in these cases. In the city north of me, they just built an EPON fiber plant across the entire town...
For context, I work in telecommunications, and up until last year, worked as an engineer for a regional competitor of Comcast's.
Yeah, no. I'm in a 34-year-old subdivision in Folsom, California (population 97,000) and I've had fiber from Comcast/Xfinity for years. As in I don't remember how long. It covers 98% of the city of Folsom, and a very high percentage of the entire Sacramento metro.
I have the lowest tier of internet from them (300 mbps, but I just speed-tested and got 330 mpbs) and if I wanted to spend more money, upgrades to 500, 1 gig and 1.2 gigs are available.
Comcast has begun switching from wired set top boxes for cable to Wi-Fi connections because the system is so fast and reliable (I've had one for the past year).
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
This is quickly turning into a case of citing "facts" without proof that they are true, and one specific person in this thread does it a lot.
At least when I post a fact, I can point to something real to back it up. So did Mike in the post above this one. So did the telecom engineer in the post above Mike's.
At least when I post a fact, I can point to something real to back it up. So did Mike in the post above this one. So did the telecom engineer in the post above Mike's.
This makes a ton of sense. Comcast dwarfs NBCUniversal, and should be a huge cash generator on its own.
In 2025, before the Versant spinoff, "residential and business connectivity" generated 81% of profits for the combined corporation. The media division generated just 8% of profits. This is on an adjusted EBITDA basis, which is the breakdown Comcast provided on page 32 of their annual report.
In 2025, before the Versant spinoff, "residential and business connectivity" generated 81% of profits for the combined corporation. The media division generated just 8% of profits. This is on an adjusted EBITDA basis, which is the breakdown Comcast provided on page 32 of their annual report.
I never looked at the numbers but that’s awesome. I only heard they were struggling in mobile from a fiber technician when they were servicing my address. I actually switched to xfinity mobile and internet a few months back from ATT and have much better service
It's always nice to have someone with deep pockets as a parent company. Now NBCUniversal will have to raise its own capital.
That was the problem a lot of these radio-only companies discovered.
With all due respect. I don’t think anyone has been arguing or going out of bounds on topics here. Mike stated stats. I didn’t see anyone actually argue
It was useful because they had a vehicle to sell their internet services. I still think it’s useful and this is a bad idea
So basically, expect layoffs - not now but eventually
it's a hybrid network, coax to the home
It's actually called HFC ("Hybrid-Fiber-Coax") internally, and has been since the mid-1990s. That's been the model since Day One. But apparently, based on what some posters have attested to above, now they're extending fiber directly to individual premises, so they can "guarantee" each subscriber a specific speed. Previously they wouldn't commit to your effective speed, because the technology was based on a shared infrastructure network. However, it's still shared. Nobody's fiber runs all the way to the internet exchange, it's aggregated at certain points into faster fiber down to their local or regional headend, and depending on demand at any given moment, there's the potential for contention that could slow down your effective data rate below what you think you're paying for. If you read the fine print in your agreement, you should find language that explains that disclaimer in Comcast's best lawyerese.
What are the limitations of DOCSIS. Can it ever provide symmetric speeds or will upload always be bottlenecked.
In certain cases (example Edison, NJ) Comcast is actually overbuilding another ISP's territory (Optimum) with a 100% fiber to the home network. Comcast's native territory ends one town over in Woodbridge, so this is an "edge out" for them. They are doing similar builds elsewhere where it makes economic sense.